大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People's War site by Janet Kowalska and has been added to the website on behalf of Joyce West with her permission. She fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

I was three when the war broke out and I lived in Bethnal Green with my parents and younger sister. We were proud of being Londoners.

Although I was so young, I can remember going down into the air raid shelter in the garden with my little Donald Duck gas mask on. The shelter had a strange, musty smell and I remember being frightened when the bombs fell all around us.

I don't remember exactly how old I was when my mother, my younger sister and I were evacuated to Llanelli in Wales. Neither can I remember much about the train journey apart from the fact that there were a lot of children on the train.

We ended up on a big farm which was very different from anything I had ever known. I had to walk two miles to school and I found the teachers very strict. Life on the farm was pleasant in many ways. We were made welcome and there was plenty to eat. The farmer's wife, Mrs Morgan, was a good cook and did all her own baking. Sometimes we went for Sunday afternoon tea to Mrs Morgan's mother and the wonderful smell of her home-made bread remains with me to this day. Less pleasant was the smell from the earth closet in the garden at the farm. We had an outside lavatory in Bethnal Green too but it did, at least, flush!

There were POWs working on the farm although I don't know whether they were German or Italian. They always seemed very nice and talked to me a lot.

Although we were well treated at the farm, I missed my dad dreadfully and would often cry myself to sleep at night thinking about him. I can't remember how long we stayed at the farm but it seemed like a lifetime to me!

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